AFRICAN STATISTICS
LUSAKA, Zambia: *- According to the South African press of October 31, the count of people banned and placed under house arrest by Vorster, Minister of Justice, numbers about 404 (more have been placed under house arrest since then) under the Suppression of Communist Act, Of the 404, eighty-nine have been banned under Section 5 which refers to named Communists , The remaining 515 were banned under Section 9 which creates "statutory communists." Thiscis.a broad term applied indiscriminately:to anyone who.demands democratic rights or. who belongs to an organization that demands those rights,
- Since the imposition of the 90-day law, two detainees have died ‘by hanging and one was reported to have jumped to his death. during interrogation, -Five have had their minds so affected they have. had to receive psychiatric treatment or be sent to mental ine. stitutions. Complaints of beatings and electric torture reveal the uncontrolled. powers given to the police during interrogations to... elicit evidence and force confessions, In the allegations made by. detainees, the names of certain policemen occur again and again with suspicious frequency on charges of excessive brutality.
On Section 17. of the 90-day law, Vorster reluctantly accepted an amendment providing for a once~a-week visit by a magistrate to every detainee. -According to H. Russell, chairman of the 90-day | Protest Committee, there is doubt whether the magistrate's weekly visit. is an effective safeguard against abuse because there is. no obligation to take action. He may disbelleve the complaints be-~ .cause. he.sees no external signs of third-degree maltreatment. If a detainee has been electrically shocked or suffocated with a plastic bag or kept standing in a small square for anything up to 48 hours, there are no visible signs of injury. Nor is a magistrate qualified as a doctor is to notice mental deterioration caused by solitary confinement for periods extending far beyond 90 days.
THE CASE OF